certain very old people reach an age where every funeral becomes some sort of insane confirmation of strength, rather than of vulnerability, as it is when we are in our thirties or forties and our friends die.

I believe I belong to the last literary generation, the last generation, that is, for whom books are a religion.

The most important thing for a writer is to be locked in a study.

Solitude is considered un-American.

art is not advocacy and advocacy is not art.

The perfect man is the true partner. Not a bed partner nor a fun partner, but a man who will shoulder burdens equally with you and possess that quality of joy.

The words carry their own momentum. A confession in motion tends to stay in motion. Newton's first law of jealousy.